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I have a soul-crushing job and I don't know what to do

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Re: I have a soul-crushing job and I don't know what to do

#81

Post by sireat »

duckingtest wrote: post #65
maerF0x0 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which are said sub $1000 countries and link to proof would be nice.

Almost half of Europe [1]. Average wage is better than vast majority of people in these countries earn. That's proof enough. You can optimize for smallest price levels [2], safety [3] or local English level [4]. Other than that, basically most places in the world. I heard Bali is nice. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_a... [2] http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/tgm/graph.do?tab=graph&plug.…

Those are nice links, but do not be mistaken, even in a low wage EE country your $1000 a month will not go far enough unless you have the right mindset of a local.

Low average wages != low cost of living.

Re: I have a soul-crushing job and I don't know what to do

#82

Post by padobson »

mrfusion wrote: post #79
padobson wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was first getting started, I just looked up every web design firm in town and called them. A lot of the local firms just had people building websites with Wordpress or Joomla on managed hosting services, so being able to say "I know a guy that writes custom code" was good for their business. In a bigger city, there's a lot more coders, but there's also a lot more businesses, so I would think this would work ju…

Thanks again! What would examples of business networking groups be? How did you you hear about business speakers?

There's a regular business network meeting in my home town, I don't know what it's called, but most of the web design firms I talked to had a rep at it every week. Ask people when you talk to them if they go to any meetups or groups like that.

Business speakers are even easier. Just go to a place where they are likely to have presentations - a college, a conference center, business expos - and see what events they have coming up. Scout bulletin boards. Speakers generally like to have an audience, so it shouldn't be too hard.

Re: I have a soul-crushing job and I don't know what to do

#83

Post by ScottHConner »

klibertp wrote: post #22
ScottHConner wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Moar this than I can upvote. Getting in early changes your entire day. Sure, you sleep less, but unless you have an acute medical condition you can get used to it within a week or so.

Yeah, but make sure you do sleep enough. I neglected sleep for years, sleeping for 2-4 hours a day - on average, with sometimes 2-3 days without sleep at all - and I though I was doing fine. When it finally caught up to me I had a major epilepsy episode at the office, which was not nice. I since started to value a solid 8-9 hours sleep much more than before. This "much" of sleep is probably not really needed, but rig…

I should have stated I go to bed at 9pm.

Re: I have a soul-crushing job and I don't know what to do

#84

Post by productionQA »

cliffcrosland wrote: post #69
patio11 wrote: post #23

Some times I think we are wired to believe we have to beg people's forgiveness for not being miserable. Medium term I'd suggest discarding this belief. Short term: on behalf of geeks everywhere, your local online watering hole hereby grants you permission to not be miserable. Quit. There exist much better jobs out there. The hiring market for people with your skillset is the best it has ever been. Level up. Portfolio…

I second what patio11 said about the low prevalence of modern frameworks. Even at the most advanced startups I've seen up close, more of the software is built using custom frameworks than using "cutting-edge" modern frameworks. Adopting each new modern framework has a cost, and if a startup's problems are largely orthogonal to the problems the framework solves, adopting the framework is unjustified. I can remember on…

+50

For both a great lesson and hilarious yet, a very applicable list of ideas.

I've been saying this for years. Obviously, we all want to progress in our careers, learn new things, and become the best we can be. Having a vision for where you want to end up is extremely important for getting there, otherwise a dream is just a pipe dream.

BUT, if you can wake up every day and do things like are stated above, you are going to be wildly happier in even the worst of situations and in turn, make others around you happier, even if this is only a small stop along the long road.

Just the other day, I wanted to try the new Dunkin Donuts breakfast burrito. If you've seen the commercial where the two guys are sitting down with goggles on because it is "exploding with flavor". I sat down in our kitchen, with goggles on at 8:30am when everyone was coming into the office. It made me laugh and a ton of others.

Happy Wednesday!

Re: I have a soul-crushing job and I don't know what to do

#85

Post by maerF0x0 »

sireat wrote: post #81
duckingtest wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost half of Europe [1]. Average wage is better than vast majority of people in these countries earn. That's proof enough. You can optimize for smallest price levels [2], safety [3] or local English level [4]. Other than that, basically most places in the world. I heard Bali is nice. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_a... [2] http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/tgm/graph.do?tab=graph&plug.…

Those are nice links, but do not be mistaken, even in a low wage EE country your $1000 a month will not go far enough unless you have the right mindset of a local. Low average wages != low cost of living.

Also a good point. My cost of living includes high speed internet, meat at 2/3rds of my meals, healthcare, new shoes each year etc. Maybe the low average wage is possible to live on, but doesnt mean it will replicate my desired standard of living.

Re: I have a soul-crushing job and I don't know what to do

#86

Post by maerF0x0 »

sireat wrote: post #81
duckingtest wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost half of Europe [1]. Average wage is better than vast majority of people in these countries earn. That's proof enough. You can optimize for smallest price levels [2], safety [3] or local English level [4]. Other than that, basically most places in the world. I heard Bali is nice. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_countries_by_a... [2] http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/tgm/graph.do?tab=graph&plug.…

Those are nice links, but do not be mistaken, even in a low wage EE country your $1000 a month will not go far enough unless you have the right mindset of a local. Low average wages != low cost of living.

Also a good point. My cost of living includes high speed internet, meat at 2/3rds of my meals, healthcare, new shoes each year etc. Maybe the low average wage is possible to live on, but doesnt mean it will replicate my desired standard of living.

Re: I have a soul-crushing job and I don't know what to do

#87

Post by ColinCera »

atmosx wrote: post #57
patio11 wrote: post #23

Some times I think we are wired to believe we have to beg people's forgiveness for not being miserable. Medium term I'd suggest discarding this belief. Short term: on behalf of geeks everywhere, your local online watering hole hereby grants you permission to not be miserable. Quit. There exist much better jobs out there. The hiring market for people with your skillset is the best it has ever been. Level up. Portfolio…

I have the idea that AngularJS is requested more and more. I thought it was kind of a "must have" skill.

Quick search on Indeed shows 56,332 jobs mentioning JavaScript, 4,378 jobs mentioning Angular. So list of various frameworks, as examples of technologies they'd like candidates to have experience with — few of them require Angular specifically as a "must have" skill.

Re: I have a soul-crushing job and I don't know what to do

#88

Post by [deleted] »

atmosx wrote: post #57
patio11 wrote: post #23

Some times I think we are wired to believe we have to beg people's forgiveness for not being miserable. Medium term I'd suggest discarding this belief. Short term: on behalf of geeks everywhere, your local online watering hole hereby grants you permission to not be miserable. Quit. There exist much better jobs out there. The hiring market for people with your skillset is the best it has ever been. Level up. Portfolio…

I have the idea that AngularJS is requested more and more. I thought it was kind of a "must have" skill.

[deleted]

Re: I have a soul-crushing job and I don't know what to do

#89

Post by duckingtest »

maerF0x0 wrote: post #85
sireat wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are nice links, but do not be mistaken, even in a low wage EE country your $1000 a month will not go far enough unless you have the right mindset of a local. Low average wages != low cost of living.

Also a good point. My cost of living includes high speed internet, meat at 2/3rds of my meals, healthcare, new shoes each year etc. Maybe the low average wage is possible to live on, but doesnt mean it will replicate my desired standard of living.

In Poland, if you wanted to eat only in restaurants, that would cost you about $1000/month. $200 for high-quality home made meals with meat everyday (the cheapest sustenance diet would be about $40). Rent for a small apartment in medium-sized city is about $350/month. $20-$30 for ~50 mbit internet. Other utilities about $100 I guess, depending on usage. Shoes and clothes generally cost the same everywhere.

There is public health insurance which most people have but it's better to pay privately for everything, prices are very low and quality is higher. Eg. a total knee replacement surgery would be $7000 at most compared to $60k in USA. One consultation with a specialist costs about $25.

Re: I have a soul-crushing job and I don't know what to do

#90

Post by nathell »

duckingtest wrote: post #89
maerF0x0 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also a good point. My cost of living includes high speed internet, meat at 2/3rds of my meals, healthcare, new shoes each year etc. Maybe the low average wage is possible to live on, but doesnt mean it will replicate my desired standard of living.

In Poland, if you wanted to eat only in restaurants, that would cost you about $1000/month. $200 for high-quality home made meals with meat everyday (the cheapest sustenance diet would be about $40). Rent for a small apartment in medium-sized city is about $350/month. $20-$30 for ~50 mbit internet. Other utilities about $100 I guess, depending on usage. Shoes and clothes generally cost the same everywhere. There is p…

> In Poland, if you wanted to eat only in restaurants, that would cost you about $1000/month.

It is possible to go much, much lower than that if you are willing to prefer eateries/milk bars over proper restaurants. It is very much possible to have a hearty, filling, two-course lunch in downtown Warsaw for $4.

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